Bo Nickal Is Officially A UFC Fighter
The Penn State alum fought on the Contender Series earlier this year and got a first-round submission in just over a minute but was set to return on the final week of the season. He then headlined Week 10 against Donovan Beard and got a 52-second submission win and earned the UFC contract.
BO NICKAL GETS IT DONE IN UNDER A MINUTE! #DWCS pic.twitter.com/IDkLeYpj7F
— UFC (@ufc) September 28, 2022
Bo Nickal’s Post Fight Call Out
In Bo Nickal’s post-fight interview, he called out Khamzat Chimaev and in his post-fight media scrum he doubled down on the callout.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about as far as kidding. I feel like that’s a good matchup for me. He’s obviously a high-level grappler, high-level fighter,” Nickal said to the media. “He’s one of the top fighters not only in his division, but in the UFC. I have a lot of respect for his skills but I also know what I’m about. So yeah. At some point. I’m making my UFC debut. He’s probably fighting for the title soon. So am I going to get that fight? Probably not. But I’m ready to go. It will happen in the future. I’ll be more than prepared then.”
Dana White’s Response
Although Bo Nickal called out Khamzat Chimaev – which is a fight he thinks is inevitable – Dana White doesn’t think that will happen first.
“Let’s not get [get] crazy here. It’s funny we were in matchmaking today and we were just talking about Khamzat and possibilities and how f*cking good that guy really is, you know? You saw it in this last fight,” White said. “Kevin Holland, to get beat the way (he did), well, Kevin expected it. For everybody else, to see it happen the way that it happened, nobody saw that coming but Kevin.”
Who Will Bo Nickal Fight First?
Instead, for White, he says he won’t treat Bo Nickal any different than any other debuting fighter. The former Penn State wrestler will work his way up the ranking and won’t get a big push up the ranks right away as many thought.
“You don’t test him against ranked talent,” White said. “You bring him in just like you’d bring in any prospect. You build him up and give him fights. The problem is, there are no easy fights here. This isn’t like the boxing model. But he walked into a show where there is no easy fights. Everybody here are killers. If you perform the way that you performed here twice… There are some guys that come in here and it’s a rough go. There are wars to squeak off a win or pull off a win or whatever. This guy came in and dominated twice.”
